Erich Richter

Erich T. Richter III, age 70, of Faribault, died peacefully on April 14, 2012 at his home following an extended illness.             Memorial services will be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. at the Parker Kohl Funeral Home & Crematory of Faribault with the Rev. Joanna Mitchell, officiating. Interment will be held at the Center Chain Cemetery, near Fairmont, MN at a later date.             Visitation will be held at the Parker Kohl Funeral Home & Crematory of Faribault on Tuesday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and on Wednesday afternoon for one hour prior to services.             Erich Theodor Richter III, the son of Erich and Jane Allen Richter, was born on July 15, 1941 in Spokane, Washington and was raised in the town of Twisp in central Washington. He graduated from Whitman College with a degree in Chemistry and worked as a chemist at Hanford Atomic Projects in Richland, Washington. After being drafted by the United States Army, he was stationed at Edgewood Arsenal outside Washington, D.C., where he met his first wife, Verna Ellen Craig. They were married in Arlington, Virginia on July 30, 1970. Erich and Verna lived in Spokane for twenty years, where they raised two daughters, Ingrid and Morgan, before moving to Faribault in 1993.             An avid gardener, Erich grew squash, gourds, and hollyhocks. Erich and his garden were the subject of a July 15, 2007 profile in the Faribault Daily News. He took Spanish lessons and wrote and illustrated science-fiction short stories and novels. He worked at the paint and hardware counter at the Faribault Wal-Mart from 2002 until 2010. After Verna's death in 2008, Erich married Ruth Ann Haley of Plainview, Minnesota on July 18, 2011.             He is survived by his wife, Ruth Haley Richter; two daughters, Ingrid Richter and Morgan Richter, both of New York; two step-daughters, Laynette Oevering of Plainview and Jeanna Feuling of Elgin; a brother, Joseph Richter of Lake Oswego, Oregon; and a sister, Elsbeth Monnett of Anchorage, Alaska.             He was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife, Verna Richter.